Wind works with a light, energetic feel.

The 20th century has seen the role of the American wind band expand from being primarily ceremonial or functional, to one including both indoor and outdoor entertainment, utilizing a wide variety of music from light to serious. Bands conducted by such "superstars" as Sousa and the Goldmans performed serious music through transcriptions and some original band compositions, but it was Frederick Fennell who really defined the notion of original concert music for winds. By encouraging the finest composers to write for winds, and by giving those composers the freedom to define the instrumentation of the groups for which they wrote, he paved the way for composers to take wind groups seriously as a medium for concert performance. Donald DeRoche writes: "Since 1952, when Fennell's vision began to take shape, thousands of new pieces have been composed for winds. In that time, those of us who conduct wind groups have frantically sought to perform the latest new works in hopes of developing a new repertoire. To paraphrase the outstanding wind conductor Frank Battisti, we hoped to find an audience that would listen to our music rather than just to our players. While we play a good deal of new music, I don't believe we are doing as well at finding and preserving that body of music that will, or should, find its way into the permanent repertoire. It is with this repertoire-building function in mind that I assembled the works for this recording." And it is with this in mind that Albany Records is pleased to bring this disc to you.

Review:

"With an enrollment of 18,5000 students, DePaul is the country's largest Catholic university, and its urban location is convenient for the members of the Chicago Symphony who teach and often perform there. Clarinetist Larry Combs has taught at DePaul since 1981. Here he is heard in Jeff Beal's delightful concerto (1994), the gem of this disc. Its two movements give Combs an opportunity to show his superb artistry on both clarinet and soprano saxophone, as well as his surprising affinity for jazz and improvisation....The piece is given a wonderful reading by Combs, whose tone is remarkably even in all registers and whose artistry seems effortless. The DePaul Wind Ensemble sounds quite mature." (American Record Guide)